The dawn of the iPad age (photos)

Hundreds wait in line at the Apple Store in San Francisco's Union Square for the launch of the iPad. Outside of S.F., the queues varied.

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Apple Store SF

I arrived at the Apple Store on Stockton Street in San Francisco around 7 a.m. Saturday, and the line was longer than I expected. Already leading nearly to the end of the block, the line was divided into two--one line for the preorders and one for on-site buyers.

Coffee and doughnuts

Apple employees handed out free coffee and doughnuts to the patient line-waiters, some of whom had been there since Friday evening. It's urban camping at it's finest, with camp chairs, sleeping bags and makeshift tables set up among a sea of iPhones and MacBooks.

Apple's Scott Forstall makes guest appearance

Apple's senior vice president of iPhone software, Scott Forstall, makes a guest appearance before the store opens. He snapped some photos of the crowd and chatted with Apple employees before heading inside to watch.

Lots of stock

Opening one up

Ganesh Kaveripakkam has his shiny new iPad opened up by a Palo Alto Apple Store employee. While users could buy their iPad and keep it wrapped up, Apple was offering to help users boot it up and get going.

Best Buy near Columbus Circle, NYC

Inside the Best Buy store near Columbus Circle in New York City Saturday morning, customers played with the new iPad in the Mac section of the store.

Some shoppers said they were just looking and would wait for the second-generation devices to be released. The store manager said the store had plenty of iPads in stock. She doesn't expect the store to run out of the first shipment until at least the end of the day. She also said she expects the store to remain well stocked throughout the coming weeks, which means anyone wanting an iPad won't walk away empty-handed.